


maybe she's born with it

by rosestone



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: BAMF Karen Page, Gen, POV Karen Page, Vigilante Karen Page
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 07:36:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9646607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosestone/pseuds/rosestone
Summary: Karen knows going with her impulses is always a bad idea.  That isn't enough to stop her.





	

It goes something like this.

Karen has never been good at _still_.  She does things.  She finds things out – mostly by accident – and tells herself not to get involved, and fails.  Spectacularly.  So she finds more things out, this time on purpose, gets in deeper, maybe pulls in a friend – which, come to think, might be why she had trouble holding onto them – gets deeper still.  Gets caught.

It’s never worked out well.  That’s never been enough to stop her.  Why would she, when there’s something to do, something to save her from sitting home alone with her thoughts?

In hindsight, it’s always worked out well.  Scoldings from parents and teachers and co-workers don’t equal _not working out well_.  Not compared to the fallout from Union Allied.

Karen learns some things about being still, after Union Allied.

But it still isn’t enough.  She has to fix her mistakes, so she helps Matt and Foggy.  She gets comfortable.  Thinks she’s learned her lesson.  Starts to think she’s safe.

Maybe things still would’ve fallen apart if she hadn’t started digging into Castle.  Probably, even; she knows this was mostly about Matt, Matt’s secrets and Matt’s lies and Matt’s insistence on running around vigilant-ing, and Foggy’s inability to deal with his terrible choices.

That doesn’t make her stop feeling like it’s her fault.

There’s no point in stopping.  Not now.  Not when everything’s gone to hell anyway.

That doesn’t mean that what she’s doing now is a _good_ idea.  It just means she’s stopped caring so much.

She hasn’t talked to Matt since he told her about Daredevil.  So she doesn’t have anyone to tell about what she’s found out.  Sure, maybe she could stand on a rooftop and call for him – “ _Hey, Daredevil, come help me beat up a rapist!_ ”  Maybe he’d hear her.  Maybe he wouldn’t.  Maybe he isn’t even in New York any more, she doesn’t know what he’s been doing.  But it doesn’t matter, because the need to _do_ something, _anything_ , is aching in her bones, so she’s going to do something stupid, eyes wide open.

She knows how to throw a punch, and she’s got her mace spray if things go wrong.  What else does she need?

 

She needs a first aid kit, apparently.

Karen leans back in the uncomfortable chair the police had waved her to, waiting to hear what’s going to happen to the rapist, and breathes.  Tastes copper across her tongue.  Her face is starting to ache, adrenaline wearing off; her split knuckles throb in time with her heart, her feet throb in her sensible shoes – but.

Tonight, she’d faced down a man who’d been a faceless terror to – how many women?  She’d fought him.  And sure, maybe it hadn’t gone so well, but in the end she’d stood over him, wondered if he really deserved a second chance.  Wondered if she should make the hard choice.

She’d called the police.

It might not come to anything.  She doesn’t have tangible proof of the other attacks, of course; maybe they’ll link him to some other crime, maybe they won’t.  Maybe he’ll be back on the streets a few weeks or months from now.

There’s absolutely no goddamn reason she couldn’t meet him there when he got out.

What else does she need?

A first aid kit.  A disguise.  Clothing that’ll stand up to fighting.  Extra training.  Really good makeup.

An alibi.

Karen’s never been good at being still.  She doesn’t want to learn.  But maybe, just maybe, she can learn how not to get caught doing something stupid.

**Author's Note:**

> This was born out of the Daredevil season two binge-watch I did with some friends. At some point we invented a drinking game and, uh... honestly I don't remember what the idea involved? Just my friend yelling about Vigilante Karen Page, whose codename was The Pencil (... because pencil skirts? I think?) and me promising to try to write it.
> 
> ... Should I continue this, Karen's codename will not be "The Pencil", because the only good reason for that would be if she fought in a pencil skirt, and that's a _terrible_ idea. Worst movability ever, 0/10.


End file.
